LAKE MICHIGAN - The 111th running of the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac kicked off Friday night near Chicago’s Navy Pier, with the sailboats in the graceful cruising divisions getting underway.

Their sleeker siblings in the racing divisions will zip off on Saturday, riding the wind all the way to the finish line near Mackinac Island in Lake Huron.

The boats are headed 333 miles up Lake Michigan before hanging a big right turn into the Straits of Mackinac, gliding under the Mackinac Bridge before hitting the finish line near the island. It’s the world’s oldest freshwater distance race.

If you’re out along the Lake Michigan shoreline this weekend from Holland all the way up to Wilderness State Park, you might be lucky enough to see their sails go by.

To follow the boats online, check the race tracker here. Clicking on a boat shows you its name, its skipper, and its traveling speed in knots.

This year, 270 boats and 2,300 sailors from around the world are competing in the race, known as America’s Offshore Challenge.

This includes some familiar faces aboard new boats.

This year’s race highlights:

Businessman Peter Thornton and his 104-foot Whitehawk in the cruising division. If his name sounds familiar, it’s because Thornton’s sleek racer Il Mostro won first-to-finish honors in the 2018 race. But he’s since retired that speed monster, donating it to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Sailing Foundation.

This year, Thornton, 79, is taking a slower - and more luxurious - sail up the spine of the big lake. The massive Whitehawk features staterooms, a propane fireplace and a teak bathtub, according to the Associated Press. He’ll be sailing with his sons and grandsons as part of the crew.

“I’m closing in on becoming an octogenarian in a few months and, after last year’s Mac race, I decided that I’ve had enough of the competitive racing and I wanted to try something different,” Thornton said in a phone interview with the AP. “I found Whitehawk was available. It really excited me when I saw the boat and what it represented and thought, ‘This is something I’ve got to try.’”

The heavy-planked wooden yacht, purchased in May, traveled from Rhode Island, through the Erie Canal, and into the Great Lakes.

He’ll likely have fond thoughts of the 70-foot Il Mostro’s speed while taking the sedate route up the lake this year. He sailed it seven times in the Chicago-to-Mackinac race.

“I mean, I have never had a thrill like that,” he told the AP. “That boat, in 25 or 30 knots of breeze, the boat just absolutely explodes through the water. For a guy my age, getting up on deck is always an experience. You’ve got to be on your toes on that boat.”

This year’s competitors also include four Transpac 52s. The TP52 is a special class of yacht used just for competitive racing.

One of these is Windquest, owned by Doug DeVos. The Amway heir is one of three principal financial backers for American Magic, the New York Yacht Club’s team for the 2021 America’s Cup, according to the AP. It’s his 40th time sailing this Chicago-to-Mackinac race.

“You never know what you’re going to get on this race, that’s for sure,” said DeVos. “It’s Lake Michigan and it’s always unique. Last year’s conditions were very difficult and very rare, then the year before that we had to retire. But, I also remember other years when there was no wind and it took until Wednesday to finish. The race is unpredictable, and that is another reason we all keep coming back.”

New safety measure were put in place by race officials this year. They included requiring all crews to perform three sailor-overboard drills before setting sail, according to CBS Chicago. In past years, those drills had just been recommended.